| Xhosa isiXhosa |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: |  South Africa Lesotho |
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| Region: | Eastern Cape Province, Western Cape Province | |
| Total speakers: | 7. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho. The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. 9 million | |
| Language family: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo Benue-Congo Bantoid Southern Narrow Bantu Central S Nguni Xhosa |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language in: | South Africa |
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| Regulated by: | no official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | xh | |
| ISO 639-2: | xho | |
| ISO 639-3: | xho | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa 's largest in terms of geographical area number of speakers and number In the classification of African languages, Atlantic-Congo constitutes the core of the Niger-Congo family, with the Noun class systems stereotypical In the classification of African languages Volta-Congo is a hypothetical major branch of the Niger-Congo family. The Benue-Congo group of languages constitutes the largest branch of the Niger-Congo language family both in terms of sheer number of languages of which 880 are known (per Ethnologue In the classification of African languages, Bantoid is a branch of the Benue-Congo subfamily of the Niger-Congo phylum In the classification of African languages, Narrow Bantu is a term commonly used to designate the branch of Niger-Congo containing the numerous Bantu languages The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's | ||
Xhosa (pronounced [ˈkǁʰoːsa] (Audio ), isiXhosa) is one of the official languages of South Africa. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. See also Xhosa language The Xhosa (ǁʰɔsɑ( people are speakers of Bantu languages living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said with a rising or falling or high or low intonation. The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family Tone is the use of pitch in Language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is to distinguish or inflect words One of the most distinctive features of the language is the prominence of click consonants; "Xhosa," the name of the language itself, begins with a click. Clicks are speech sounds such as English tsk! tsk! used to express disapproval or the tchick! used to spur on a horse
Xhosa is written using a Latin alphabet-based system. See also Xhosa language The Xhosa (ǁʰɔsɑ( people are speakers of Bantu languages living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two Three letters are used to indicate the basic clicks: c for dental clicks, x for lateral clicks, and q for palatal clicks (for a more detailed explanation, see the table of consonant phonemes, below). Tones are not indicated in the written form.
Contents |
Affiliation and distribution
Xhosa is the southernmost branch of the Nguni languages, related to Swati, Northern Ndebele[1] and Zulu. Zulu (called isiZulu in Zulu is a Language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers the vast majority (over 95% of whom live in South There is some mutual intelligibility with Swati, Northern Ndebele and Zulu, a Northern Ndebele and Xhosa share many linguistic features. Nguni languages are in turn part of a larger group of Bantu languages, and as such Xhosa is related to languages spoken across much of Africa [2]. Bantu may refer to Bantu expansion, a series of migrations of Bantu speakers Bantu languages Bantu people
Xhosa is the most widely distributed African language in South Africa, while the most widely spoken is Zulu [3]. Zulu (called isiZulu in Zulu is a Language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers the vast majority (over 95% of whom live in South Xhosa is the second most common home language in South Africa as a whole. As of 2003 the majority of Xhosa speakers, approximately 5. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. 3 million, live in the Eastern Cape, followed by the Western Cape (approximately 1 million), Gauteng (671,045), the Free State (246,192), KwaZulu-Natal (219,826), North West (214,461), Mpumalanga (46,553), the Northern Cape (51,228), and Limpopo (14,225) [4]. The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho. The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. Gauteng (xaʊˈtɛŋ Sotho xɑ́útʼèŋ̀ is a province of South Africa. History See also Orange Free State Geography The Free State is situated on flat boundless plains in the heart of South Africa KwaZulu-Natal (kwɑːˌzuːluː nəˈtɑːl often referred to as " KZN " is a province of South Africa. Mpumalanga, (umˈpuːməlɑŋɡə – name changed from Eastern Transvaal on 24 August 1995) is a province of South Africa The Northern Cape is a large sparsely populated province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up Limpopo (lɪmˈpoʊpoʊ is the northernmost province of South Africa. A minority of Xhosa speakers (18,000) exists in Quthing District, Lesotho. Quthing is a district of Lesotho. It has an area of 2916 km² and a population of approximately 200000 (2002 Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South [1]
Dialects
Xhosa has several dialects, including
- Gcaleka
- Ndlambe
- Ngqika (Nqqika, considered "standard")
- Thembu
- Bomvana
- Mpondomse (Mpondomise)
- Mpondo
- Xesibe
- Rharhabe
- Bhaca
- Cele
- Hlubi- There's still a debate about the whether the Hlubis belong to the Zulu, the Xhosa or they have their own King
- Mfengu[2]
There is some debate among scholars as to what exactly the divisions between the dialects are. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of The Thembu are one of the handful of nations and population groups which speak Xhosa in South Africa. The Bhaca people are mainly found in the small towns of the former Transkei, Mount Frere and UMzimkhulu, and some surrounding areas The Zulu ( IsiZulu: amaZulu) are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10-11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal See also Xhosa language The Xhosa (ǁʰɔsɑ( people are speakers of Bantu languages living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two A king is a male Monarch, or a Head of state, who may or may not depending on the style of government of a nation exercise monarchal powers over a territory usually Mfengu are an African ethnic group of South Africa who were forced off their land in 1877 and 1878.
History
Xhosa-speaking peoples have inhabited coastal regions of southeastern Africa since before the sixteenth century. The members of the ethnic group that speaks Xhosa refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and call their language isiXhosa (isi- is a prefix relating to languages), while the language is most commonly known as "Xhosa" in English. See also Xhosa language The Xhosa (ǁʰɔsɑ( people are speakers of Bantu languages living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two
Almost all languages with clicks are Khoisan languages and the presence of clicks in Xhosa demonstrates the strong historical interaction with its Khoisan neighbours. The Khoisan languages (also Khoesaan languages) are the indigenous languages of southern and eastern Africa; in southern Africa their speakers are the Khoi An estimated 15% of the vocabulary is of Khoekhoe (Khoisan) origin [5]. In the modern period, Xhosa has also borrowed from both Afrikaans and English. Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in
Role in modern society
The role of African languages in South Africa is complex and ambiguous. There are an estimated 2000 Languages spoken in Africa. About a hundred of these are widely used for inter-ethnic communication Their use in education has been governed by legislation, beginning with the Bantu Education Act of 1953 [6]. Bantu Education Act of 1953 (No 47 was a South African law which codified several aspects of the Apartheid system
At present Xhosa is used as the main language of instruction in many primary schools and some secondary schools, but is largely replaced by English after the early primary grades, even in schools mainly serving Xhosa-speaking communities. See also Primary education A primary school (from French école primaire) is an institution where children receive the first stage of Compulsory Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational Institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling known as Secondary education, takes The language is also studied as a subject.
The language of instruction at universities in South Africa is English or Afrikaans, and Xhosa is taught as a subject, both for native and non-native speakers. In 2004 South Africa started reforming its higher education system merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions and renaming all higher education institutions
Literary works, including prose and poetry, are available in Xhosa, as are newspapers and magazines. The first Bible translation was in 1859, produced in part by Henry Hare Dugmore [7]. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin The Reverend Henry Hare Dugmore (1810-1896 a South African missionary writer and translator was born in England, son of Isaac and Maria Dugmore The South African Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts in Xhosa on both radio (on Umhlobo Wenene FM) and television, and films, plays and music are also produced in the language. SABC redirects here as this is the most common use of the abbreviation in English The best-known performer of Xhosa songs outside South Africa is Miriam Makeba, whose Click Song #1 (Qongqothwane in Xhosa) and Click Song #2 (Baxabene Oxamu) are known for their large number of click sounds. Miriam Makeba (b March 4, 1932) is a Grammy Award-winning South African singer also known as Mama Afrika.
In 1996, the literacy rate for first-language Xhosa speakers was estimated at 50%, though this may have changed dramatically in the years since the abolition of apartheid [8]. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar)
Linguistic features
Xhosa is an agglutinative language featuring an array of prefixes and suffixes which are attached to root words. In Linguistics, agglutination is the morphological process ofadding Affixes to the base of a Word. As in other Bantu languages, Xhosa nouns are classified into fifteen morphological classes (or genders), with different prefixes for singular and plural. In Linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing Nouns A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its Referent In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong Various parts of speech that qualify a noun must agree with the noun according to its gender. These agreements usually reflect part of the original class that it is agreeing with. Constituent word order is Subject Verb Object. In Linguistic typology, subject-verb-object ( SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first the Verb second and the object
Verbs are modified by affixes which mark subject, object, tense, aspect, and mood. For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. The various parts of the sentence must agree in class and number [9].
- Examples
- ukudlala - to play
- ukubona - to see
- umntwana - a child
- abantwana - children
- umntwana uyadlala - the child plays
- abantwana bayadlala - the children play
- indoda - a man
- amadoda - men
- indoda iyambona umntwana - the man sees the child
- amadoda ayababona abantwana - the men see the children
- Zonke zinto ezilungile zivela kuThixo - all things that are good proceed from God.
Vowels
Xhosa has an inventory of ten vowels: [a], [ɛ], [i], [ɔ] and [u], both long and short, written a, e, i, o and u.
Tones
Xhosa is a tone language with two inherent tones: low and high. A tonal language is a language that uses tone to distinguish words Tones are frequently not marked in the written language, but when they are, they are a [à], á [á], â [áà], ä [àá]. Long vowels are phonemic, but are usually not written, except for â and ä. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU
Consonants
Xhosa is rich in uncommon consonants. In Articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a Speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper Vocal tract, the upper vocal Besides pulmonic egressive sounds, as in English, it has fifteen clicks (by way of comparison, the Juǀʼhoan language, spoken by roughly 10,000 people in Botswana and Namibia has 48 clicks, while the ǃXóõ language, with roughly 4,000 speakers in Botswana, has 83 click sounds, the largest consonant inventory of any known language), plus ejectives and an implosive. In Phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Juǀʼhoan (also called Zhuǀʼhõasi Dzuǀʼoasi Zû-ǀhoa JuǀʼHoansi is a Khoisan language spoken in the Northwest District of Botswana by about 5000 people The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. In Phonetics, ejective consonants are Voiceless Consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the Glottis. Implosive consonants are stops (rarely Affricates with a mixed Glottalic ingressive and Pulmonic egressive Airstream mechanism. The same sounds occur in Zulu, but are used less frequently than in Xhosa.
The five dental clicks (represented by the letter "c") are made with the tongue on the back of the teeth, and are similar to the sound represented in English by "tut-tut" or "tsk-tsk" to reprimand someone. The second five are lateral (represented by the letter "x"), made by the tongue at the sides of the mouth, and are similar to the sound used to call horses. The remaining five are alveolar (represented by the letter "q"), made with the tip of the tongue at the roof of the mouth, and sound something like a cork pulled from a bottle.
The following table lists the consonant phonemes of the language, giving the pronunciation in IPA on the left, and the orthography on the right:
| Labial | Dental / Alveolar |
Postalveolar / Palatal |
Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Lateral | ||||||
| Click | plain | [kǀ] c | [kǁ] x | [kǃ] q | |||
| aspirated | [kǀʰ] ch | [kǁʰ] xh | [kǃʰ] qh | ||||
| breathy voiced | [ɡǀʱ] gc | [ɡǁʱ] gx | [ɡǃʱ] gq | ||||
| nasal | [ŋǀ] nc | [ŋǁ] nx | [ŋǃ] nq | ||||
| breathy voiced nasal | [ŋǀʱ] ngc | [ŋǁʱ] ngx | [ŋǃʱ] ngq | ||||
| Stop | ejective | [pʼ] p | [tʼ] t | [tʲʼ] ty | [kʼ] k | ||
| aspirated | [pʰ] ph | [tʰ] th | [tʲʰ] tyh | [kʰ] kh | |||
| breathy voiced | [bʱ] bh | [dʱ] d | [dʲʱ] dy | [ɡʱ] g | |||
| implosive | [ɓ] b | ||||||
| Affricate | ejective | [ʦʼ] ts | [ʧʼ] tsh | [kxʼ] kr | |||
| aspirated | [ʦʰ] ths | [ʧʰ] thsh | |||||
| breathy voiced | [ʤʱ] j | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | [f] f | [s] s | [ɬ] hl | [ʃ] sh | [x] rh | [h] h |
| breathy voiced | [v̤] v | [z̤] z | [ɮ̈] dl | [ɣ̈] gr | [ɦ̤] hh | ||
| Nasal | fully voiced | [m] m | [n] n | [nʲ] ny | [ŋ] n’ | ||
| breathy voiced | [m̤] mh | [n̤] nh | [n̤ʲ] nyh | ||||
| Approximant | fully voiced | [l] l | [j] y | [w] w | |||
| breathy voiced | [l̤] lh | [j̈] yh | [w̤] wh | ||||
Two additional consonants, [r] and [r̤], are found in borrowings. Both are spelled r.
Two additional consonants, [ʒ] and [ʒ̈], are found in borrowings. Both are spelled zh.
Two additional consonants, [ʣ] and [ʣ̤], are found in loans. Both are spelled dz.
An additional consonant, [ŋ̈] is found in loans. It is spelled ngh.
In addition to the ejective affricate [ʧʼ], the spelling tsh may also be used for either of the aspirated affricates [ʦʰ] and [ʧʰ].
The breathy voiced glottal fricative [ɦ̤] is sometimes spelled h.
The "breathy voiced" clicks, plosives, and affricates are actually plain voiced, but the following vowel is murmured. That is, da is pronounced [da̤].
Consonant changes with prenasalization
When consonants are prenasalized, their pronunciation and spelling may change. Prenasalized stops or consonants are phonetic sequences of nasal plus plosive that behave phonologically like single consonants Murmur no longer shifts to the following vowel. Fricatives become affricates, and if voiceless, become ejectives as well, at least with some speakers: mf is pronounced [ɱp̪f’]; ndl is pronounced [ndɮ];n+hl becomes ntl [ntɬʼ]; n+z becomes ndz [ndz], etc. The orthographic b in mb is a voiced plosive, [mb].
When voiceless clicks c, x, q are prenasalized, a silent k is added – nkc, nkx, nkq – so as to prevent confusion with the nasal clicks nc, nx, nq.
Sample text
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika is part of the national anthem of South Africa, national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia, and the former anthem of Zimbabwe and Namibia. "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" ("God Bless Africa" in Xhosa) is part of the joint National anthem of South Africa. Since 1997 The South African national anthem has been a hybrid song combining new English lyrics with extracts of the hymn " Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika " and the former Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya The Republic of Zambia (ˈzæmbɪə is a Landlocked country in Southern Africa. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast It is a Xhosa hymn written by Enoch Sontonga in 1897. Enoch Mankayi Sontonga (ca 1873 - 18 April 1905) was the composer of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa which has been part The first chorus is:
- Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;
- Malupakam'upondo lwayo;
- Yiva imithandazo yethu
- Usisikelele.
- Lord, bless Africa;
- May her horn rise high up;
- Hear Thou our prayers And bless us.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
- Bonke abantu bazalwa bekhululekile belingana ngesidima nangokweemfanelo. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly ( 10 December 1948 at Palais Bonke abantu banesiphiwo sesazela nesizathu sokwenza isenzo ongathanda ukuba senziwe kumzalwane wakho.
- All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of fellowship.
Qongqothwane ("The Knock-Knock Beetle," known in English as The Click Song) is a Xhosa wedding song best known as performed by Miriam Makeba. Note the frequent occurrence of palatal clicks:
- Igqira lendlela nguqongqothwane
- Igqira lendlela kuthwa nguqongqothwane
- Sebeqabele gqithapha bathi nguqongqothwane
- Sebeqabele gqithapha bathi nguqongqothwane.
- The diviner of the roadways is the knock-knock beetle
- The diviner of the roadways is said to be the knock-knock beetle
- It has passed up the steep hill, the knock-knock beetle
- It has passed up the steep hill, the knock-knock beetle
Common words and phrases
- Molo - hello (to one person)
- Molweni - hello (to more than one person)
- Unjani? - how are you? (one person)
- Ninjani? - how are you? (more than one person)
- Ndiphilile - I am well
- Siphilile - we are well
- Ngubani igama lakho? - What is your name?
- Unangaphi? - How old are you?
- Malini na? - How much money?
- Yintoni le? - What is this?
- Ngubani xesha? - What is the time?
- Kuyabanda ngaphandle! - It is cold outside!
- Enkosi - thank you
- Uxolo - excuse me
- Ngxesi - sorry
- Nceda - please
- Andiqondi/Andikuva - I don't understand
- Andiyazi - I don't know
- Ndithetha isiXhosa kancinci nje - I only speak a little Xhosa
- Ndiyagoduka ngoku - I am going home now
- Intwasahlobo ifikile - Spring has arrived
- Ndihamba ngebhasi - I go by bus
- Ndilahlekile - I am lost
- Ndingakwenzela ntoni? - What can i do for you?
- Vula iincwadi zakho - Open your books (to one person)
- Vulani iincwadi zenu - Open your books (to more than one person)
See also
- Xhosa calendar
- Henry Hare Dugmore, the first translator of the Scriptures into Xhosa
- U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, a 2005 Xhosa film adaptation of Bizet's Carmen
- UCLA Language Materials Project, an online project for teaching languages, including Xhosa. By the traditional Xhosa calendar, the year began in June and ended in May when Canopus, a large star visible in the Southern Hemisphere, signalled the The Reverend Henry Hare Dugmore (1810-1896 a South African missionary writer and translator was born in England, son of Isaac and Maria Dugmore U-Carmen eKhayelitsha is a 2005 South African Operatic Film directed and produced by Mark Dornford-May. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The UCLA Language Materials Project (LMP http//wwwlmpuclaedu maintains a web resource about teaching materials for some 150 languages that are less commonly taught in the United States
References
External links
- Xhosa language profile (at UCLA Language Materials Project)
- Ethnologue report for Xhosa
- Xhosa-English Dictionary
- A very short Xhosa -> English dictionary
- Encouraging awareness of Xhosa culture and language
- PanAfrican L10n page on Xhosa
- Google in Xhosa
- Umholobo Wenene FM
- Xhosa learning resources
Software
- Spell checker for OpenOffice.org and Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox web-browser, and Mozilla Thunderbird email program in Xhosa
- Translate.org.za Project to translate Free and Open Source Software into all the official languages of South Africa including Xhosa
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic